Experience is a brutal teacher. But you learn, my God, do you learn.

-C.S. Lewis



Stream In January

Stream In January

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Chicken Poop Realized!

My granddaughter has mastered the English language quite well for a 2 year old, but she cannot say coop. So in more than one way, I have chicken poop - 12 new chicks doing what babies do and a new home under construction for them. My babies are 2 days old. We picked them up early yesterday morning from my local farm store. They were born Sunday. The yellow girls are Golden Comet, the darker striped are Araucana. I hope they are all female and the Comets probably are, but it's not quite so easy to tell the sex of the Araucana. so I may have a rooster in the bunch. I joked with my friend at the store that if I ended up with 12 roosters they are all coming back. They'll stay in the brooder (homemade) for the next 3 to 4 weeks and then head out to the new chicken yard. I should have eggs by late summer - some large brown from the Comets and green, blue and pink from the Araucanas. Being a little camera shy!
To say that we've been busy for the past month would be an understatement. As soon as the weather started to warm and the snow all melted, we started clearing a good portion of land at the top of the garden and at the bottom. The bee hives and the big compost boxes have been moved. The "chicken poop" and yard is under construction in the lower part of the photo. I've gained a tremendous amount of space for planting and adding more hives. Topbar is the next project. Bees should start swarming by the end of the month and my good friend, Kelley, is going to catch a swarm for me if I don't have one myself. I also called the pest control service in town and they will call me if anyone calls for swarm removal.




I don't usually like to cut trees, but much of what has been taken out was overgrown and dead. There were no large trees cut; only broken pines, dead hemlock, mountain laurel and rhododendron. All of the longer pieces of laurel and rhodos will be used for beans to climb on, to enclose planting areas and to make roosts and ladders in the chicken yard and coop. The larger wood is firewood. Still lots and lots of work to do, but already my garden is showing signs of being a real beauty this year. Oldtimers kept saying the snow would make for prettier plants this spring and so far they aren't wrong.
As I look across the space I now have available I'm beginning to see an area for the goats I've always wanted. My husband says, empahtically, "No Way!" But he said that about the chickens, too :)



5 comments:

Paul said...

Heeeeaaar Chicki Chicki.
I had to feed the chickens and gather the chicken snakes, I mean eggs, when I was a little boy. It was always entertainig when I would reach in to get an egg and would feel a snake. It would scare the wits out of me. It did not take me long to realize I needed to look inside the nest before reaching in there. All good memories though. Good look with the bittys.

Marcia said...

How nice to have you back Lynn, I love checking my blogs each day and finding lots more to read now your spring is in the air !! My 2yr old grandson says funny things also, the latest is the name of his band, he and his little cousin are called - `the poopy beatles` - quite appropriate really !! His Dad is a muso and E knows all the names of his Dad`s fav bands, can recognise them playing and as he is nearly 3, just starting to have fun with language and thinks naughty words are hillarious !

vicree said...

Lynn, the chicks are lovely! Covet! And I hope you do luck out and get mostly hens, but that was never my experience! It was usually 50/50. When the young roosters start learning to crow you will be laughing everyday! So funny. They sound like a teenager with a cracking voice! I looked on the Web for pictures of mature Golden Comets, but no success! I have never seen any!
I want a few bantams so badly, I'm almost willing to chance it. With almost two acres of land I should be allowed to have a few, but within the city limits the powers that be, say NO! I look forward to seeing the finished "poop" and pics of the growing chicks. I also have a snake story that I will save for later!

Jared said...

I hope all is well with you and your bees. We have not heard from you in about a month.... how is everything on the homefront with the chicks and the garden/bees?

Jared said...

sorry, 2 months!